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EB-4 Special Immigrant Visa for Afghani Nationals

The EB-4Special Immigrant visa program has a specific section for Afghani Nationals, who are looking for permanent residence, who were employed by the U.S government or on behalf of the U.S government. This program has been undergoing update that includes that 3,000 new visas issued by The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which was signed for President Obama. This program will end when 7,000 visas are issued. In order to meet the deadline that was supposed to end on December 31, 2015 has been extended to December 31, 2016.

Another update that was created to the program by the NDAA is the requirement for the service from one year to two years for people who submitted a petition after September 30, 2015. After this change was set in place the Department of State and Homeland Security have decided that the “petition” as it was used in the FY 2016 NDAA will be referred to the application for Chief of Mission (COM) approval and submitted by the applicant. They have extended to the type of people that can apply for a Visa, which includes people who worked for Information Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

There are five steps for how to acquire this Special Immigrant Visa. The five steps consist of:

Applying for Chief of Mission approval,

Filing a petition with the USCIS,

Filing information with the National Visa Center

Interview with the US Embassy in Kabul.

Arrival into America.

Step 1.

Step 1 is when you are going to be sending off your application to the Chief of Mission for approval and in order to do that you will need a letter of recommendation, verification that you were employed by the U.S government or on behalf of the U.S government, any threats you received, your passport, and Form DS-157, Supplemental Nonimmigrant Visa Application.

Step 2.

Step 2 is you are going to file a petition with USCIS. For that you will need

A copy of your passport or taskerashowing that you are a national of Afghanistan, along with a certified English translation

A copy of the letter of recommendation that you sent to NVC when you applied for Chief of Mission (COM) Approval.

A copy of your COM approval, which should note that the COM or his/her designee:

Has determined that you have been employed by, or on behalf of, the U.S. government or by ISAF, or a successor mission, on or after October 7, 2001, and prior to December 31, 2016, for a period of not less than two years;

Has conducted a review of records maintained by the U.S. government or hiring organization or entity to confirm employment and determined that you have provided faithful and valuable service to the U.S. government; and

Has determined that you have experienced or are experiencing an ongoing serious threat as a consequence of your employment by the U.S. government.

If you are in the United States when you file the petition, a copy of the front and back of your paper Form I-94, Arrival/Departure Record.

You can file step 2 by contacting ilexlaw firm for a free consultation.

Step 3.

You will then begin your preparation for Visa processing. All paper work must have an English translation available for them. For this step you must submit all of the forms for you and your family.

Those forms are:

DS-260

Copy of passport

Birth certificates that are scanned

Refugee Benefits Election Form

DS-034

Step 4.

The next step is the Visa Interview where they will ask you questions about your job in Afghanistan and what work you did for the U.S government or on behalf of them. The interview will be conducted at U.S. Embassy or Consulate where a consular officer will interview you and take fingerprints.

Step 5.

The final step is the arrival into the United States after all of your paper work has been submitted entry into American should be available to you and family.